July 29, 2026 • 12 mins
Tomorrow, the NPC finally returns for its 50th edition with the first match kicking off between Waikato and Bay of Plenty at 7 tomorrow night.
This year also marks a return to free-to-air for the competition, with the hopes that it'll help build on the viewership growth the comp has seen over the past couple of seasons.
Melodie Robinson is the Head of Sports and Events at TVNZ, she joined D'Arcy to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Tomorrow, the NPC returns for its fiftieth EDESHA and the
first match kicks off between Wakethorn. They have twenty seven
o'clock tomorrow night. This year also marks a return to
free to air NPC for the competition. Plainly hopes that
it will build viewership, it will build connection, it will
(00:35):
build new enthusiasm for our national Provincial Championship. It's been
on the up. Can this take the game further? Melody
Robinson is the head of Sports and Events at TV
and Z. She joins us now to discuss good evening.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Mel Shota. Nice to catch up with you.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
And great to chat with you as well as ivised
to just like you know, meeting outside TV and Z
and demanding a job, so it's nice to go on
an official basis, Melody. It's a big year for the NPC.
It's a big year for TV and Z, TV and
Z plus free to air NPC. A lot of it's digital,
(01:15):
so it's almost going into the future, but it's kind
of back to the future because we're getting free MPC.
It's it's a lovely combo of both, isn't it?
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, it's fantastic. After I think FIFA football kiwis are
very used to coming onto TVZ Plus and accessing sports
through that platform. So I think with the way that
we make NPC prominent on TVNZ plus, the fact that
it's free and people will be able to access it
(01:44):
every weekend from start to finish, we'll probably see some
amazing results in terms of audience for NPC this season,
which is just great.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
What did you learn out of the FIFA World Cut
about applying this now to the MPC. There must have
been some key lessons coming out of it, because that
was That was quite a punt, wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Oh, look, it was one of the biggest learnings. And
kind of knew this. But TV and Z is an
incredible marketing machine for sports. That's the first thing.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
We've got.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Incredible marketing team. They're very good at what they do.
They push things on big outdoor video as well.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
They're really creative with that.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Our news and our extended coverage of some of the
sports that we own means that people are super aware
of the sports that are happening right now, right here.
And then finally, I think the way that we curate
or place the sports on the front page of TVNZ
(02:43):
plus has a big impact on whether or not people
know it's the and click through. And you know what,
We've got about two point two million first party data
relationships with New Zealanders on TV and Z plus, So
all those people captured already, and all you have to
do is put the sport in front of them for
them to watch.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It wouldn't that long ago where I think Spark sport
it will was the transition for older people to migrate
across from terrestrial television to that digital age. It proved
to be very, very difficult. Plainly that is starting to soften.
He needed to do much in that space in order
(03:23):
to get that next generation to buy own to this technology.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, all the.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Big tech companies are doing a lot of the work
for us, Netflix, Amazon Prime, you know all of those,
So if people want to watch some of the big
shows that are on there, they are getting used to
having smart TVs and basically registering on those platforms.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So that's helped us. Yet, Spark was pretty early.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
And probably the most important thing for them was that
their technology just didn't work on that opening match of
Rugby bil Cup twenty nineteen. Ours had a few tving
issues before we launched pay, but we got rid of
them before we went into pay and so there was
a lot of reliability and people were really happy with
the experience. I think those things have made a big
(04:07):
difference for going digital first with a lot of these
big sport properties.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
How do you know if it's a successful or not?
What will you look back on at the end of
the season and go tick tick tick cross cross cross.
I'd say KPIs, but that's kind of old school. Whoops,
I just did that's right?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Or we do.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
We do have success measures that we put up and
we think about, you know, what would what would the
type of reach profile reach or reach on linear TV?
What would make us happy? But most importantly, our average
audience is the thing we look at because that measures engagement.
And so if we've got a really high average audience,
(04:46):
which would compare against some of our other sports, we
know that we've had a really good success with NPC.
And then the final thing is if you've got good
engagement in high ratings. Ratings are the percentage of New
Zealanders on TV at that moment watching NPC. If we've
got high ratings, compare it compared to other sports or
(05:07):
other content and that broadcast slot. Then again, we know
that we've won in ratings, means you can charge more.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
For your advertising dollar as well, So win win for us.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
When it comes to ratings. You can put one size
fits all across terrestrial television and the digital TV. Does
it combine?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
No, No, you can't.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
You can't because the way that linear television has been
measured for so long is just so different for how
you measure digital. But the great thing about our platform
and digital generally is that you can find out a
lot more around how people are watching, when they click off,
what they really respond to, demographics, you know, all of
those kinds of things, time spent on that piece of content,
(05:52):
et cetera. So we're going to get deeper, richer data
over this season, which we will share with New Zealand
Rugby to make sure that they know that we're bringing
in some of those younger audiences that they have been
missing out on. That is why they did the deal
with us. They wanted bigger reach when more people watching
this product, and they wanted to bring the love back
(06:14):
to provincial union rugby.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
This is the why this is what I was asking
the wife the TV and Z and the wife or
en Z are it's probably quite apparent, but could you
run us through that melody?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, well, look it was I'm not provably to obviously
the deal that they did with Sky to extend over
the next five years with New Zealand Raby, but from
what I've read in the media as well, that total
dollar amount was less than the previous right style. So
what that meant is New Zealand Rugby had the flex
(06:46):
to take one or two of their broadcast assets out
of exclusive deal and go non exclusive. And an actual
fact that was designed by New Zealand Rugby Bailey Macki
was involved there and brought it to market and that's
how we got involved because they knew they want to
(07:06):
to take NPC out, get extra reach partner with somebody
else as well as Sky TV. And let's not forget
we are working really well with Sky TV at this point.
They are producing all the Rugby it's still their really
high quality live Rugby production and so we work with
them hand in hand. We're also selling the broadcast sponsorship
(07:28):
on behalf of both SkyTV and TV and Z, so
even though our partnership was with New Zealand Rugby where
actually we have an informal partnership with Sky TV on
this one as well.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
With I like that term because I look at cost
of producing this, that's all sitting with Sky, isn't it.
So what you can contribute obviously is key. Otherwise why
would they Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Well, what we have done, what they like in New
Zealand would be likes. We do have some budget to
increase fan interest and engagement, so we've put we're putting
on our own callers on the Saturday night game, so
that's Scottie Stevenson and called Tenana.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
We are looking they're two very experienced callers.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
We're looking for them to bring in a lot of
fun and love back to that provincial union sort of flavor,
which I know both of them will do. And then
I've got some extra budget, which this year we're doing
a new show called One for the Roadie. I've got
Scottie Stevenson and Maya the Silverfoo netballer out. They're visiting
six provincial unions. They're doing a competition style program with
(08:38):
some of the NPC players in each region, so women
and men, and they do some challenges and at the
end there's one person that wins. The reason we're doing
this kind of format is because it's fun, but secondly
because we can start to introduce ourselves to some of
these call personalities, these young athletes. And already Sumo's come
back from the Northland Street this week He's just gone,
(08:59):
oh my god, these these players are so funny and
the show is just going to be great. So we're
putting our extra money into that. It will accelerate interest
for New Zealand rugby, but also it will probably accelerate
interest for rugby generally, which means Sky TV also benefits.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
One of the biggest issues you're facing, do you think now?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Biggest issues?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Definitely the decline of linear television is so much faster
right at this moment than anyone can predict us around
about twenty percent year on year, so that's a big one.
And we still make quite a bit of money out
of linear television and their advertising business model we've got.
So I think this year is going to be a
tough one for TVNZ because we're still investing in some
(09:42):
of our other strategic initiatives, which are all digital, and
we haven't quite caught up with that digital revenue yet,
so we probably need a couple more pay products.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
To be honest, you had to pay product with I've
got to say TVNZ plus I'm no football fan, but
at price point forty five bucks, I bought it. I
needed to say it so that we're so you're really
aiming into that space. You want more sport? What else
is open to be consumed? What are you targeting now?
I mean you're going to be away from TV and
(10:11):
Z what about five six weeks You're going off to
carry on your career on the other side of the world.
But what other marks are there?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Well, we know football works, so there are football properties
that will be coming to market over the next sort
of twelve to eighteen months if you have a look.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I mean there's things like NBA.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
There's Rugby World Cup which will come up probably around
mid sort of twenty twenty eight for the next two
Rugby World Cups probably, There's the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
So there's still plenty out there.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
It just takes a long time to build a relationships
and you have to put the right money down on
the table as well, So it's not just about reach.
We still have to compete on price, so there's plenty
watch the space.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And you've got to provide the proper con it's got
to look good, it's got to sound good, it's got
to feel good. So these are huge opportunities for TV
and Z basically not to drop the ball.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah totally.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
That FIFA Football World Cup was produced by FIFA, so
we took most of their feed.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
We do produce a lot of sports ourselves.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
We've just come off obviously, six years of the Cricket
which was a really good, high quality and we specialize
in entertainment sports with Trek Stars Chasing the Fox and
Black Clash. So we've got some really good expertise in
the house and also freelance that we bring in to
do a lot of network So I've got no doubt
that the TVNZ team can do production at that high
(11:40):
level that Sky TV does.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And dare I say it an imparting Melanie Robinson as always,
thanks very much for your time and your expertise. Where
does netball sit in all this?
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Well, because I'm leaving, I don't have to answer that question,
do I. Look, it's up to them and they'll.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Have to make the decision.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
And I think they'll have to wait until their new
CEO comes on board so that she could shape it. Remember,
they've got a really experienced chair in Alistair Brothers, who
was the chair of TVNZ as well, So I think
they're really fortunate having his knowledge and capability because he
really understands the landscape.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Well, it's all about going forward, looking up and on
that Melody, travel safe, looking forward to your new career
and thanks very much as Sam and not able to
pester you for work on the street.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Oh good, I'm really pleased. Thanks Darcy.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
For more from sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Tomorrow, the NPC returns for its fiftieth EDESHA and the
first match kicks off between Wakethorn. They have twenty seven
o'clock tomorrow night. This year also marks a return to
free to air NPC for the competition. Plainly hopes that
it will build viewership, it will build connection, it will
(00:35):
build new enthusiasm for our national Provincial Championship. It's been
on the up. Can this take the game further? Melody
Robinson is the head of Sports and Events at TV
and Z. She joins us now to discuss good evening.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Mel Shota. Nice to catch up with you.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
And great to chat with you as well as ivised
to just like you know, meeting outside TV and Z
and demanding a job, so it's nice to go on
an official basis, Melody. It's a big year for the NPC.
It's a big year for TV and Z, TV and
Z plus free to air NPC. A lot of it's digital,
(01:15):
so it's almost going into the future, but it's kind
of back to the future because we're getting free MPC.
It's it's a lovely combo of both, isn't it?
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, it's fantastic. After I think FIFA football kiwis are
very used to coming onto TVZ Plus and accessing sports
through that platform. So I think with the way that
we make NPC prominent on TVNZ plus, the fact that
it's free and people will be able to access it
(01:44):
every weekend from start to finish, we'll probably see some
amazing results in terms of audience for NPC this season,
which is just great.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
What did you learn out of the FIFA World Cut
about applying this now to the MPC. There must have
been some key lessons coming out of it, because that
was That was quite a punt, wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Oh, look, it was one of the biggest learnings. And
kind of knew this. But TV and Z is an
incredible marketing machine for sports. That's the first thing.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
We've got.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Incredible marketing team. They're very good at what they do.
They push things on big outdoor video as well.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
They're really creative with that.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Our news and our extended coverage of some of the
sports that we own means that people are super aware
of the sports that are happening right now, right here.
And then finally, I think the way that we curate
or place the sports on the front page of TVNZ
(02:43):
plus has a big impact on whether or not people
know it's the and click through. And you know what,
We've got about two point two million first party data
relationships with New Zealanders on TV and Z plus, So
all those people captured already, and all you have to
do is put the sport in front of them for
them to watch.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It wouldn't that long ago where I think Spark sport
it will was the transition for older people to migrate
across from terrestrial television to that digital age. It proved
to be very, very difficult. Plainly that is starting to soften.
He needed to do much in that space in order
(03:23):
to get that next generation to buy own to this technology.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, all the.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Big tech companies are doing a lot of the work
for us, Netflix, Amazon Prime, you know all of those,
So if people want to watch some of the big
shows that are on there, they are getting used to
having smart TVs and basically registering on those platforms.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So that's helped us. Yet, Spark was pretty early.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
And probably the most important thing for them was that
their technology just didn't work on that opening match of
Rugby bil Cup twenty nineteen. Ours had a few tving
issues before we launched pay, but we got rid of
them before we went into pay and so there was
a lot of reliability and people were really happy with
the experience. I think those things have made a big
(04:07):
difference for going digital first with a lot of these
big sport properties.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
How do you know if it's a successful or not?
What will you look back on at the end of
the season and go tick tick tick cross cross cross.
I'd say KPIs, but that's kind of old school. Whoops,
I just did that's right?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Or we do.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
We do have success measures that we put up and
we think about, you know, what would what would the
type of reach profile reach or reach on linear TV?
What would make us happy? But most importantly, our average
audience is the thing we look at because that measures engagement.
And so if we've got a really high average audience,
(04:46):
which would compare against some of our other sports, we
know that we've had a really good success with NPC.
And then the final thing is if you've got good
engagement in high ratings. Ratings are the percentage of New
Zealanders on TV at that moment watching NPC. If we've
got high ratings, compare it compared to other sports or
(05:07):
other content and that broadcast slot. Then again, we know
that we've won in ratings, means you can charge more.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
For your advertising dollar as well, So win win for us.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
When it comes to ratings. You can put one size
fits all across terrestrial television and the digital TV. Does
it combine?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
No, No, you can't.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
You can't because the way that linear television has been
measured for so long is just so different for how
you measure digital. But the great thing about our platform
and digital generally is that you can find out a
lot more around how people are watching, when they click off,
what they really respond to, demographics, you know, all of
those kinds of things, time spent on that piece of content,
(05:52):
et cetera. So we're going to get deeper, richer data
over this season, which we will share with New Zealand
Rugby to make sure that they know that we're bringing
in some of those younger audiences that they have been
missing out on. That is why they did the deal
with us. They wanted bigger reach when more people watching
this product, and they wanted to bring the love back
(06:14):
to provincial union rugby.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
This is the why this is what I was asking
the wife the TV and Z and the wife or
en Z are it's probably quite apparent, but could you
run us through that melody?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, well, look it was I'm not provably to obviously
the deal that they did with Sky to extend over
the next five years with New Zealand Raby, but from
what I've read in the media as well, that total
dollar amount was less than the previous right style. So
what that meant is New Zealand Rugby had the flex
(06:46):
to take one or two of their broadcast assets out
of exclusive deal and go non exclusive. And an actual
fact that was designed by New Zealand Rugby Bailey Macki
was involved there and brought it to market and that's
how we got involved because they knew they want to
(07:06):
to take NPC out, get extra reach partner with somebody
else as well as Sky TV. And let's not forget
we are working really well with Sky TV at this point.
They are producing all the Rugby it's still their really
high quality live Rugby production and so we work with
them hand in hand. We're also selling the broadcast sponsorship
(07:28):
on behalf of both SkyTV and TV and Z, so
even though our partnership was with New Zealand Rugby where
actually we have an informal partnership with Sky TV on
this one as well.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
With I like that term because I look at cost
of producing this, that's all sitting with Sky, isn't it.
So what you can contribute obviously is key. Otherwise why
would they Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Well, what we have done, what they like in New
Zealand would be likes. We do have some budget to
increase fan interest and engagement, so we've put we're putting
on our own callers on the Saturday night game, so
that's Scottie Stevenson and called Tenana.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
We are looking they're two very experienced callers.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
We're looking for them to bring in a lot of
fun and love back to that provincial union sort of flavor,
which I know both of them will do. And then
I've got some extra budget, which this year we're doing
a new show called One for the Roadie. I've got
Scottie Stevenson and Maya the Silverfoo netballer out. They're visiting
six provincial unions. They're doing a competition style program with
(08:38):
some of the NPC players in each region, so women
and men, and they do some challenges and at the
end there's one person that wins. The reason we're doing
this kind of format is because it's fun, but secondly
because we can start to introduce ourselves to some of
these call personalities, these young athletes. And already Sumo's come
back from the Northland Street this week He's just gone,
(08:59):
oh my god, these these players are so funny and
the show is just going to be great. So we're
putting our extra money into that. It will accelerate interest
for New Zealand rugby, but also it will probably accelerate
interest for rugby generally, which means Sky TV also benefits.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
One of the biggest issues you're facing, do you think now?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Biggest issues?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Definitely the decline of linear television is so much faster
right at this moment than anyone can predict us around
about twenty percent year on year, so that's a big one.
And we still make quite a bit of money out
of linear television and their advertising business model we've got.
So I think this year is going to be a
tough one for TVNZ because we're still investing in some
(09:42):
of our other strategic initiatives, which are all digital, and
we haven't quite caught up with that digital revenue yet,
so we probably need a couple more pay products.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
To be honest, you had to pay product with I've
got to say TVNZ plus I'm no football fan, but
at price point forty five bucks, I bought it. I
needed to say it so that we're so you're really
aiming into that space. You want more sport? What else
is open to be consumed? What are you targeting now?
I mean you're going to be away from TV and
(10:11):
Z what about five six weeks You're going off to
carry on your career on the other side of the world.
But what other marks are there?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Well, we know football works, so there are football properties
that will be coming to market over the next sort
of twelve to eighteen months if you have a look.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I mean there's things like NBA.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
There's Rugby World Cup which will come up probably around
mid sort of twenty twenty eight for the next two
Rugby World Cups probably, There's the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
So there's still plenty out there.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
It just takes a long time to build a relationships
and you have to put the right money down on
the table as well, So it's not just about reach.
We still have to compete on price, so there's plenty
watch the space.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And you've got to provide the proper con it's got
to look good, it's got to sound good, it's got
to feel good. So these are huge opportunities for TV
and Z basically not to drop the ball.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah totally.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
That FIFA Football World Cup was produced by FIFA, so
we took most of their feed.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
We do produce a lot of sports ourselves.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
We've just come off obviously, six years of the Cricket
which was a really good, high quality and we specialize
in entertainment sports with Trek Stars Chasing the Fox and
Black Clash. So we've got some really good expertise in
the house and also freelance that we bring in to
do a lot of network So I've got no doubt
that the TVNZ team can do production at that high
(11:40):
level that Sky TV does.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And dare I say it an imparting Melanie Robinson as always,
thanks very much for your time and your expertise. Where
does netball sit in all this?
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Well, because I'm leaving, I don't have to answer that question,
do I. Look, it's up to them and they'll.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Have to make the decision.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
And I think they'll have to wait until their new
CEO comes on board so that she could shape it. Remember,
they've got a really experienced chair in Alistair Brothers, who
was the chair of TVNZ as well, So I think
they're really fortunate having his knowledge and capability because he
really understands the landscape.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Well, it's all about going forward, looking up and on
that Melody, travel safe, looking forward to your new career
and thanks very much as Sam and not able to
pester you for work on the street.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Oh good, I'm really pleased. Thanks Darcy.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
For more from sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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